


Writing An Effective Proposal

by mvernet



Series: Sentinel Thursday Prompt Fics [1]
Category: The Sentinel
Genre: Cover Letters, M/M, Originally posted on Sentinel Thursday Live Journal, Pre-Slash, Prompt Fic, bowling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-10
Updated: 2018-07-10
Packaged: 2019-06-08 09:16:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15240186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mvernet/pseuds/mvernet
Summary: Prompt fic written for LJ Sentinel Thursday. Prompt, proposal.Blair writes a cover letter for a grant while Jim and Joel go bowling.





	Writing An Effective Proposal

Teaching Fellow, Blair Sandburg, was at the moment having a staring contest with the grant proposal that had taken him all afternoon and evening to finish. He finally decided he should concede the contest to his black lettered adversary and tore his eyes away letting them rest on the pre-computer age artifacts littering his office. He really didn’t mind writing grants. He knew he was good at it and so did his department head. Which is why he wrote so many of them. He was in fact the Anthropology Department’s King of begging for money without seeming needy. But even a King, has his bane. And the bane of Blair’s academic existence was the cover letter.

Blair groaned and swiveled in his seat making his office swing in rhythm with his thoughts. He hated cover letters. He could wax poetic about why his proposal would save life as we know it, but the damn cover letter with its polite and pointless intro to the grant always made him feel like an oily scoundrel asking poor little Nell for rent money. 

He sighed as he swiveled and let his thoughts run to his partner who at this very moment was bowling with Joel Taggert at Cascade Pins. Bowling was definitely not Jim’s thing. The constant crashing noise of the lanes and loud happy screams and laughter of the bowlers always put him on edge and gave him a headache. Not to mention the aromas of bowling alley snack food and spilt beer mixed with the heady smell of bowling shoe sanitizing spray. 

But noble Jim stepped up, like the white knight he was, to take Blair’s usual place at Joel’s side for the evening. Joel was facing a Cascade PD bowling championship at the end of the month and had asked Blair to help him focus and improve his game by training with him once a week.

Blair glanced at the time on the screen. He still had time to join his friends if he just could get the cover letter finished. Thinking of Jim wincing and complaining about Blair’s damn devotion to higher learning brought a mischievous smile to his face. He started to type.

RE: CLAIM THE SENTINEL PROJECT

Dear Detective Ellison,

Teaching Fellow, Blair Sandburg, is pleased to present this proposal for your review. I look forward to partnering with you on my project called. Claim The Sentinel.

During the last three years I have been heading the pilot program with encouraging results. Having met my ‘Holy Grail’ I proceeded to form a warm friendship and successful partnership with the most honorable, loyal and generous man I have ever had the fortune to know.

I would now like to further this partnership and claim my Sentinel for my own. I propose to love you with all I have, keep you safe from harm and never leave your side.

I hope you find my proposal acceptable and look forward to working with you on other such projects in the future. If you have any questions please contact me at my office at Rainier University.

Thank you for your time,  
Blair Sandburg

Blair snickered and shook his head. If only his life with Jim were that simple. He went on to write a real cover letter and wearily hit print on his computer. The printer whirred to life and spat out two letters. Blair smiled at the one written to Detective Ellison he accidentally printed out. Not trusting it to the trash can, he shoved it into the back pocket of his jeans then leaned over to delete the proposal for eternity from his files.

~~~J&B~~~

Jim munched on some popcorn as he filled the score card for Blair and Joel, grumbling as he always did about tiny pencils and big hands. Blair bounced over to him.

“Thanks again for filling in for me, man. Joel is doing so much better now that I have him visualizing strikes before he throws the ball.”

Jim stretched out his long legs and watched Joel mutter the mantra Blair made up for him. He smiled as his Sentinel hearing picked up on the prayerful, “I am the roll. I am the crash. I am the strike.”

“Sandburg, you experimenting in new age religions? The Tao of Bowling?”

“Smart-ass. You know, most cultures teach their young ones games in order to hone the skills needed to survive. Games that require aiming and throwing perfected the skills needed for hunting and protecting the tribe.”

Jim smiled as Blair’s whole face lit up with enthusiasm. Not for the first time, Jim was taken with how attractive Blair was. And the fact that he didn’t know he was beautiful, made him even more beautiful. Jim kept that observation to himself.

“Well, I suppose throwing a twelve pound coconut at a group of unsuspecting pinbirds might come in handy.”

“Go ahead, make fun of the teacher. I just want to help. Joel is my buddy and this is important to him.”

“Well, Tao master, looks like Joel is stuck.”

Blair murmured, “Oh no, not again.” Blair left a chuckling Jim behind as he ran down the lane to aide Joel who seemed to be frozen in place. A piece of crumpled paper flew out of his back pocket. Jim reached down to pick it up. The name Ellison caught his eye and he just had to look.

The proposal was short and the sweetest thing Jim had ever read. He glanced up at his partner, one hand on Joel’s back and the other gesturing at the distant pins as if hitting them was the most important thing in the world. Jim knew his guide gave his whole heart to whoever needed him and he loved him for it. Jim loved Blair for a lot of reasons and suddenly the time had come to admit it. Jim fumbled with his pocket and pulled out his phone, making sure his guide was preoccupied, he called Blair’s empty office at Rainier and waited for the answering machine to beep.

“Mr. Sandburg,” Jim said in his most official voice, “This is Detective Ellison. I received your proposal and find it most acceptable. I do, however have one question. What took you so long, Chief?”

Jim chuckled and closed his phone. He could picture Blair’s face when he got that message tomorrow morning. He laid back in his uncomfortable plastic chair and watched as Joel made a glorious strike, Blair nearly knocking Joel over with a pouncing hug.

“Most effective proposal,” Jim said softly as he clapped his hands for his friends, contented to wait one more day to claim his guide.


End file.
